Improvement in cartridges for revolving- fire-arms



J. M. COOPER. Q Cartl idge.

No 45,319; Patented D096. 1864. V

j Witneses: Q Inveptor: v

f W W Y. STAT-ES ammunition.

. metallic cartridges.

JAMES MASLIN ooornn; on

. PATENT '0 mrrsnune, P-EnnsYLvA'mA.

mrnovniuenr m CARTRIDGES eon nnvonvme FIRE-ARMS.

' Specification firming part of mm Patent No. 45,319, December 6,

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatL'JAMEs MASLIN (Joor'nn, 0fthe city of Pittsburg, in the county of Alle-' gheny and State of.Pennsylvania, have in-.

V vent-ed a new and useful improvemeutin adaptation of metalliccartridges to breech-cylinders specification, in whi'ch- Figural is alongitudinal section through the axis of a revolving breech or chargecylinder of a pistol or otherfire-arm, showing one of thecharge-chambers furnished with my car tridge, and the other with a conefor using loose Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a-revolving breechwith charge-chanibers loaded-with my metallic cartridges. Figs. 3, 4,and 5 are perspective representations of my My invention consists of ametallic cartridge case having afball projecting from the front end,anda perforated cone, suitable for percus- 'sion-caps, projecting fromthe rear end, adapted for, charging fire-arms with fixed ammunition fromthe front end of the. breech; Another feature of my invention isconstructing my cartridge-case with ashort neck of reduced diameter tofit into a similarly shapedcavity at .the rear end of thebreech-cylinder; the object of which is, that by the ball at one end andthe neck of the cartridge-case at the other end the cartridge isnot onlycentered in the chamber of the breech,.but is also so held in place asto sustain the stroke of the hammer at the endof the nipple withsuificient firmness to pre'.

vent'the cartridge being pushed forward, and

primedor' capped after it is inserted into the charge-chamber as readilyas before by adapting the rear endof the breech to the projecting coneornipple. The advantage thus aris- Y ing from the use of my improvedcartridge is great, because when fixed ammunition is loaded into thefront end of acharge-chamber, if the priming should be defective, andfail to'explode when struck, a great difliculty would exist in removingthe useless charge, but by the use of my-cartridge the place of the capmay be supplied \by a good one, and the dilficulty surmounted.

To enable others skilled in the art to conto describe it more fully..

In the drawing, a is a revolving chargecylinder fora revolvingpistohhaving, as is usual, :1 central bore, b, for the arbor or spindleof the revolver, surrounded by a number of charge-chambers, c 0, havingtheir axes par allel with the axis of the cylinder. These ter fromthefrontend to within a short-distance of-the rear end, where the diametercontractsslightly.

or case, 0, most conveniently madeof thin sheetat the other the cylinderis open to receive the end of the ball g, which is of slightly largerdij is fitted with an ordinary percussion-cap. The cone may beef brassor of steel, either made in one piece with the cartridge-cases orinserted into and attached to it.

Figs. 3, 4, and 5 showfldiflerent modifications l of shape ofthecartridge-case; In Figs. aand .end, while that shown in Fig. 3 is of thesame diameter throughout. The rear end of the case may-be either a planesurface, at right angles to the axis of the cartridge-case, with thecone projecting centrally from it, as in Fig. 4, or the extremity of thecylinder may be beveled oli' toward the base of the conei as in Fig. 5,.so

at the base of the bore of the charge-chamber. v vWhere thecartridge-case and the chargechainhers are made slightly tapering, the.body home by the'ramrod, as a slight force applied to the end of thenipple, after the cartridge has been fired, 'will serve to loosen thecartridgecase, when it will readily drop out in front. Thesecartridge-caseswill serve for repeated use by filling them with h a ballin the open end.

struct and use my improvemena'l will proceed v charge-chambers c may beof the same diamej The cartridges consistofa metallic cylinder brass,with a cone or nipple, fiatone end, and

ameter than the cartridge-case.v The cavity of the case is filled withpowder, and the nipple 5 the case is slightly tapering toward the rearas to fit into a corresponding yshaped cavity :of the cartridge-case maybe made of the same diameter as the bore of the cylinder, and thus 3 fittightly therein when the cartridge is rammed v powder and insertingWhen, however, the charge-chambers are of uniform diameter from thefront end to the shoulder formed for the reception of the cone ornipplein cylinders'of ordinary'construction,

it will not do to have the had y of the cartridgecase fit tightlythroughout its'entire length, as theex'plosion of the charge wouldtighten the cartridge-case in the charge chamber so that it could not hereadily removed after firing; and as my metalliccartridges are intendedto be used in revolving cylinders of ordinary construction, in mostoi'which the charge-chains here are of. uniform diametexg, I make use ofcartridge-cases constructed as" shown inFig. 3. The cartridge-case e iscylindrical and of uniform diameter, which is less than that of thecharge-chamber, At the rear end of the chamber the diameter is stillfurther reduced for a short distance only from the rear end, forming 'ashort necii, h,'(see Fig. 3,) and the cone or nipplef' projects from therear end, as before described. in the rear end of v thecharge-chamberths diameter is reduced so as to correspond exactly withthe diameter of the neck'k of the cartridge-case. I The diameter of theball attached to the cartridge-case is'such as to fit tightly'into thebore of the charge-chamber. Now, when the cartridge thus constructed isinserted into the front end of the charge-cham-' her, and forced home bythe rumored, the cartridge-case touches the bore of the revolvingcylinder only at the neck h,,leaving a -spaceall around thecartrid-ge-case, but the ball fits sufiiciently tightly in the heretosustain the strokeoi'the hammer on the outlet the nipple f and whenthecaitridge is firedthe case will still he loose the here oi"theichargechamher;excepting alt-the, heel: it, which is easily-relieved by aslight pressureon the-nipple. @his construction of metalliccartridgeswith a ball projectingefrom-the' iront-, end, and--21. neck at the rearend, i'fsrnallerdia neter than the body of the .certrid ge, may aisolieadvenztageously used with csrtridgeswithelnt cones, and primed withfulminatingpowder atjth'e rear end.

- Thegreat advantagis'cf thense of metallic I cartridges thusconstructedgihyrerolvingtfirearmsis disease with .which-thepiece loaded,the cartrid go being inserted in the front instead of the rear. It alsoavoids the necessity of boring thecharge-cylinder clear through ofuniform diameters and the consequent danger attendantoulhaviiig. thecylinder open at both ends. ,Itis. manifest also that there 1s nopeculiar construction of the other parts of the fire-arm necessary, as arevolver so con:

structed as to use-a charge-cylinder furnishedwith nipples for usingloose ammunition may. be used, the cylinder or breech having s; round:hole at the rear end of each charge-chamberibr the cone fof the,cartridge to project through, i 4 the cone of the cartridge thus'bearingthe'same' relation to the hammer as the nipples of cylin: .-v

ders of ordinary const'ructionyas seen in Fig; 1, where one of thecharge-chambers is repre; sented, for the purpose of illustration, withan ordinary nipple, d, inserted.

Having thus described my improvement,

what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. A metallic cartridge case having a perfo rate metallic cone (forpercussion-caps) projecting from-its rear end, and having no flange orother projection of greater diameter than that:

of the charge-chamber in which the cartridge is to be inserted, andhaving a neck at or near the rear end of the case to fita. cavity inthechamber or equivalent construction forholdin'g the cartridge in place,so as to resist the pact of the hammer in firing, substantially ashereinhefore described.

Making metallic cartridge-cases with or without a nipple, and having ashort neck at the rear end, of less diameter than the main 1 body of thecartridge, fitting closely into a corresponding cavity or perforation atthe rear w. 3mm,

